cellular misadventures and the jawline of destiny
by kingslayers
Summary: "You used seven emojis in one text!" Sirius accuses, looking at his best friend with something akin to incredulity. "You have zero chill." / Lily just wanted Amos Diggory's number. It would have been much more simple if Marlene had a reasonable method of naming her contacts, but alas. —jameslily, wrong number!au.


**written for:** the otp!au competition iii; round two. WRONG NUMBER!AU + jily.

 **notes:** honestly this is only my second attempt at jily as a main pairing and even the last time, it ended up as a character study just as much as a ship, so. but anyway! modern!au + muggle!au bc wrong number, so i guess let's all be ready for hijinks? also this is entirely marlene's fault i'm not even sorry and neither is she lmao

 **thanks:** to roma ( semiotics) for her support and willingness to spitball over chat about this when i was incoherent at a ridiculous hour, and also for one scene in particular in this which was her idea, so thank you so much, giiiirl; also to jasmin (delusionaldoll) for being so understanding about the rl struggles; and also danae and bia, who yelled at me to go to sleep at five am but did it out of love and are also always super supportive. xo

 **warnings:** swearing. some weird grammar/text speak in the texts, just fyi. switching pov (alternating between lily and james; third person, though).

 **disclaimer:** disclaimed.

* * *

james + lily

 _a story of fierce girls with quick wits and kind hearts,  
charming boys with easy smiles and hopeful souls,  
a dick, an asshole and the jawline of destiny._

* * *

"You want _whose_ number?" Marlene asks incredulously.

Lily flushes slightly, but busies herself with examining the nail polishes as she replies. "Amos Diggory's." Pausing for a second, she tacks on, "and I know you have it."

Marlene grumbles. "More's the pity," she mutters. "You realise he's a total prick, right?"

Lily makes a dismissive noise. "He's not _that_ bad," she says reprovingly.

"Well, he's not a bad person," Emmeline corrects. "He's not a villain, or anything—he's just really irritating."

"He's like the human embodiment of the phrase 'swelling up with pride'," Dorcas says drily.

"Pompous as fuck," Marlene adds.

"But... not a morally bad person," Emmeline concedes, glancing at Lily.

Lily's mostly trying to work out how they got into a situation where _Emmeline_ is the one trying to soften blows. Thankfully, Mary speaks up, her voice streaming through the tinny speakers on Dorcas' phone.

"Don't be mean, guys," Mary tells them off. "He's really nice, once you get past the bluster."

"Great jawline too," Caradoc comments, walking into the room. "Hiya Mary," he calls out loudly, so the phone can pick him up as he sits on Marlene's bed, nudging Dorcas' extended legs slightly as he does so.

"Hey, Caradoc!" the blonde's voice trills happily from the phone. "Sorry guys, but the show's starting—I'll talk to you soon!"

There is a chorus of good-byes, and one "use protection!" Everyone alternates between staring at Caradoc and Marlene, who sputter and grin respectively. These reactions clarify nothing.

"Please, Marls?" Lily asks again.

Caradoc nods from the bed. "God forbid Lily be separated from the jawline of destiny," he says in a voice that is almost solemn. Dorcas snorts.

Marlene gives Caradoc a sharp look. "Weren't you going out tonight with Tilden and Benjy?" she asks, cocking her head.

"They're not here yet," he shrugs.

"So you barge into your flatmate's room?" Dorcas asks, turning on her side to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Only one of them," he says, as if that solves everything. "I left Em's and the twins' alone."

"Thanks," Emmeline says drily.

Marlene turns to Lily, ignoring the general bickering behind her, and sighs. "All right," she says, picking up a dark emerald nail polish and shaking it. She sits by the foot of her bed, by Emmeline's feet. "My phone's in my bag," she tells Lily.

Lily grins at her, and picks it up, quickly tapping in her friend's code. She searches for AMOS DIGGORY—no dice. She tries again, just AMOS and DIGGORY individually this time—nothing for either of them. She turns to Marlene with a frown.

"What's it under?" she asks.

Marlene thinks. "Look under asshole," she suggests, from where she's sitting, painting Emmeline's toe nails.

Lily throws her a look. Marlene's responding look is unrepentant. Emmeline, Caradoc and Dorcas snort.

With a sigh, Lily types in ASSHOLE. Sure enough, there's an entry.

"Unbelievable," she mutters, and then thinks about it for a moment—no, it's actually very believable, she decides, thinking about her friend.

There's a sharp rap on the front door, and _MILEY WHAT'S GOOD_ starts streaming out of Caradoc's pocket. He glances at his phone, sparing only a deep eyeroll for the girls' cackles at the ringtone Marlene changed his phone to.

"Benj is here," he says, saluting them all. Lily smiles fondly—he's sarcastic and a little awkward, Caradoc Dearborn is, and the boy who will have your back even as he mocks whatever it is you're into, but he's a good friend and he found a platonic soulmate in Marlene McKinnon the day he joined her football team.

"Let me know how your cellular adventures with the jawline of destiny go," he says to her with a little wave, grinning as she sputters slightly. Walking out Marlene's door, he shouts, "I'm coming!"

A second later, the girls hear the front door slam shut, and turn back to the task at hand—either Lily and her quest for, as Caradoc put it, 'the jawline of destiny', or the painting of nails.

Lily pulls out her own phone and carefully copies the number over, typing in AMOS for the saved name. She quickly composes a text, fingers flicking over the surface of her screen, bites her lip, and presses send.

x

James' phone beeps.

He ignores it.

A second later, it starts blasting out Eminem's _I'm Not Afraid_. Aghast, James throws himself at his phone, pressing the volume button all the way down to mute and glaring at his best friend, who's cracking up on the sofa.

"Why is that my ringtone?" he asks Sirius.

"Why did you jump for your phone like a live grenade?" his best mate retorts. "Don't live with your Mum anymore, Prongs."

James gives him a paranoid look. "She has ears _everywhere_ ," he hisses, before relaxing into a grin.

Remus, from his perch on the arm of Peter's armchair, raises the question that starts it all. "Aren't you going to check your text?" he asks, cocking his head.

James starts, having forgotten about it in the span of his chat with Sirius.

"Oh, right!" he says, flashing an embarrassed grin at Remus. "Here we are," he starts, before trailing off when he reads it.

 **UNKNOWN NUMBER:** hey, it's lily! :) i got your number off marlene, i hope that's okay!

James stares at the text for a solid two minutes before Sirius flings a pillow at his head.

Rubbing his face, he absent-mindedly glares at his friend, his mind elsewhere. On a girl, in fact. A particular girl with red hair and green eyes and the most wicked sharp mind James has ever even _heard_ of; sure, her reportedly-ex-best-friend might be top of Chemistry, but that's his _major_ , and considering it's only her minor, James thinks it's pretty damn impressive that she does just as well as Snape does.

James thinks it's less impressive that he himself hasn't managed to actually _talk_ to said redhead, Lily Evans, yet, but it's hard. For one thing, he knows her by sight, reputation and the stories of Marlene and Emmeline, all of which are factors that have not yet managed to form themselves into an introduction point. For another, he's... well, he's certainly not _thick_ —he's actually pretty clever—but his strength lies in Engineering, which has far less overlap with Chemistry than he'd like. As little overlap as there is between Engineering and Chemistry, there's even less between Engineering and _Social Policy_ , Lily's actual major.

Still, she's texting him, isn't she? Maybe Marlene and Emmeline mentioned him to her, same as they mentioned her to him.

James' heart swells up with something big and light and hopeful, grinning madly at his friends.

Peter leans towards Remus. "Has he taken something?" he whispers, and Remus shakes his head, baffled.

James flops down onto Sirius' couch, on _top_ of Sirius—"oof!" the human cushion says—and beams at his phone, texting furiously, before pressing send and holding it close to his chest.

Remus and Peter exchange confused looks. Sirius groans loudly.

x

Lily's phone vibrates, and she checks it eagerly, before giving a groan.

"What is it?" Dorcas asks, taking Lily's proffered phone. She snorts. Lily snatches it back, grumbling.

 **AMOS:** yeah nah that's fine

"Real slick," Dorcas snickers. "He's a true smooth talker, that boy. Astounding conversationalist."

Lily's about to open her mouth—to defend him or agree, she's not actually sure—when her phone vibrates again. She peers down.

 **AMOS:** is there something that you wanted?

Lily briefly contemplates whether or not this is worse. She is still undecided by the time Emmeline catches sight of her phone and gives her a searching look.

"I mean, whatever it says, it's a start," Marlene allows, from where she's looking up at Lily and Emmeline. Emmeline nods in agreement.

Lily begins typing quickly, and presses send.

 **LILY:** not really! just wondering what you're up to?

 **LILY:** we're having a sleepover at em + marls' place

 **AMOS:** sounds fun :)

 **AMOS:** i mean VERY girly

 **AMOS:** not that there's anything wrong with that

 **AMOS:** sorry about that. my friends are assholes

Lily's been reading each new text with a variety of reactions, ranging from smiling to raising eyebrows to, finally, a giggle. He wouldn't get it, she thinks to herself, but she finds it hilarious that his name for his friends is his name in Marlene's phone.

 **LILY:** haha, no worries. i know what that's like

 **LILY:** my friends have very large personalities

She starts typing up a story about Emmeline's reaction to Edgar Bones' radio show and Marlene's subsequent call to the station, and is about to press send when she hesitates. Reading over it, she bites her lip, thumb hovering over the send key before eventually resting on the backspace key, erasing the story. The thing is, Amos is not especially friends with any of her friends—he's under the name _ASSHOLE_ on Marlene's phone, for goodness' sake—and the fact that there's potential for Amos to react negatively to the story instead of with amusement makes her feel uncomfortable about the concept of sending it.

Suddenly, her phone goes off in her hands again, and Lily glances at the new text.

 **AMOS:** tell me about it! one time, padfoot insisted  
on SERENADING ME in the middle of the food court

 **AMOS:** with celine dion! of all things!

 **AMOS:** the worst part was that when i tried to shut  
him up he started running away and yelling "paint  
me like one of your french girls jack!" as he went

 **AMOS:** security was not happy but one of the guards  
wouldnt stop laughing at me

 **AMOS:** neither could moony or wormy once they found  
out actually

 **AMOS:** mum took his side too. V RUDE. i am her son  
\+ a true delight. she likes him better tho im convinced

Lily can't help but laugh at each new text popping up. She's not certain who 'padfoot' is, let alone 'moony' or 'wormy' but she assumes there's some sort of logic to what appear to be nicknames for his best friends. Truth is, she doesn't really know Amos well enough to even try work out who they could be, but she feels like she's getting to know him pretty well right now. Who knew he would be so expressive and funny over text?

x

"Prongs."

James is too focussed on his phone to answer. He and Lily have been texting for a while now, and he's not really paying much attention to what's going on around him because of it.

Sirius glares. " _James_ ," he says, throwing another pillow at his face.

"Hmm?" James says, finally glancing up, only to revert back to the screen when he gets another text.

Sirius leaps up from his spot on the floor. "That's it," he grumbles, walking around the sofa to lean over James' shoulder and pluck the phone right out of his hands.

"Hey!" James cries in outrage.

Sirius pays no attention to this, dancing out of his reach as he scrolls through the phone, pulling a face at something he sees.

"You used seven emojis in one text!" Sirius accuses, looking at his best friend with something akin to incredulity. "You have _zero_ chill."

Remus snorts. "Yes, because _James Potter_ is known for being cool, calm and collected," he says, to which Peter grins.

"He's got a point, Pads," Peter agrees. "I mean, what did you expect?"

"He's been texting this bird for _three_ _hours_ , Pete," Sirius retorts. "I expected something a bit slicker than using the same number of emojis as a fourteen year old girl."

Remus and Peter look at each other in askance. " _Why?_ " they chorus together, staring at him.

James thinks he should be offended, but he's mostly trying to sneak his phone back from Sirius without falling off the sofa.

Sirius pauses. James prepares to make a grab for the phone, but then—

"I don't know, actually," Sirius admits. James falls off the sofa, vaguely insulted.

Sirius seems to notice that James was trying to make a grab for the phone and frowns at him, wagging his finger.

"Nuh-uh," he says. "You ignored _Hot Fuzz_ , of all things, to overuse emojis with some girl. You're not getting this back yet."

"Pads—" James begins, pushing himself off the floor, before cutting himself off as he witnesses the most horrific thing yet.

Sirius _calls_ her.

x

Lily's phone vibrates in her hand, and she looks down, already smiling in expectation for a message.

Her smile vanishes when the phone continues to vibrate, and she realises she has an incoming call. She looks at the other girls in horror.

"He's _calling_ me?" she says, somewhat aghast. She's been getting along really well with him, so it's not that she's opposed to conversation or anything, she's just... startled, she supposes. And somewhat less convinced of her abilities to not get flustered by hearing his voice, now that she knows he's a great guy as _well_ as owner of the jawline of destiny.

Marlene starts laughing as Emmeline gives her a sharp look.

"Well?" Emmeline asks. "Aren't you going to answer it?"

Lily looks at her phone, trying to decide, while Dorcas flops back onto the bed, groaning at the latest development.

Pressing the ACCEPT CALL button, Lily holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello?" she says, trying not to sound as flustered as she feels.

The other girls gesture for her to put it on speaker—Marlene doesn't gesture so much as toss a pillow at her hip and say, "put it on _speaker_ , Lils!"—but Lily shakes her head, turning away from them so they can't see her face.

The voice that streams out of the phone, however, does not belong to Amos. It's a little hard to hear, because there seems to be some ruckus in the background—Lily can hear yelling and the screeching of furniture, and she thinks she can hear something about putting the phone down or something will happen to... a motorcycle? She's not sure, but she shakes her head and tries to focus on the voice actually in her ear.

"So, you're the bird Prongs has been texting all night?" the boy on the other end asks, his voice both smooth and a growl. It's an interesting combination.

Lily blinks, trying to decipher—of _course_. If they're Padfoot, Moony and Wormy, Amos must have a nickname too. Evidently Prongs.

"I guess?" she says, drawing out the syllable. "Would I be talking to Padfoot, Moony or Wormy?"

"You told her our _names_?" the boy suddenly shouts, though it sounds like it's at someone else in the room.

"You literally just called me _Prongs_ to her, you thick prat!" another voice retorts; it's harder to distinguish, but there's something warm about it, passionate and charming even in its argumentative state.

Lily hasn't heard Amos speak very much in her life at all, but she quite likes what she can make out of his voice. There's something soothing in it, but also exciting—lively, she thinks, is probably the best description.

"I can't believe you _told_ her," the boy on the phone is still prattling, ignoring Amos'—very reasonable, in Lily's opinion—objection.

"Pads, I _swear_ —" Amos is saying when Lily decides to try take hold of the situation.

"Er, excuse me," she says into the phone.

" _What?_ " demands the boy on the phone, before clearing his throat. "Er, sorry, bit loud," he says, though he doesn't sound particularly remorseful in Lily's opinion.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" she asks.

The line is silent for a moment. Then—

"What exactly are your intentions with my dear Prongsie?" he finally asks.

Lily swallows hard. She hadn't been especially prepared for this question, but she supposes it's fair enough.

"I just wanted to talk to him," she says softly. "Get to know him a bit, you know? Maybe, if he's keen, get some coffee some time after POLS—"

"Prongs doesn't take POLS," the boy says, sounding confused.

Lily stops suddenly. She's entirely certain Amos takes POLS, because Emmeline has complained about him on multiple occasions. So either one of Amos' seemingly best friends doesn't know he takes the class... or whoever this Prongs boy is that she's been having such a good conversation with for the last few hours _isn't_ Amos.

x

Sirius is frowning, and James wants to know what's happening. Sirius is holding him at arm's length—as in, he's literally got his arm extended out as far as it can and he's pushing it against James' chest to counteract the taller boy's struggles to retrieve his phone—but James is determined and resourceful, so he's sure he can get it.

Maybe.

Surprisingly, just as James manages to twist out from under his best mate's hand, Sirius pulls the phone away from his ear and frowns down at it.

"She hung up on me," he says to nobody in particular.

James groans. "What," he asks, pinching the bridge of his nose, "did you say?"

"You could hear me," Sirius says, looking at him strangely.

"Out of context," Remus points out.

"I think he wants to know her intentions, Pads," Peter says helpfully. James throws him a grateful smile.

Sirius furrows his brow. "Get to know him," he says finally, looking as if he's thinking intently.

"What was that about POLS?" James asks curiously.

Sirius waves his hand at him distractedly. "Bit of a mix-up, I think," he says. "People get POLS and Anthro mixed up sometimes, because of the overlap, I guess." Sirius shoots his friend a wry look. "'Course, it's probably because POLS makes more sense as a minor to Engineering than _Anthro_ does."

James shoves him good-naturedly. "Ha, ha," he says, rolling his eyes.

Sirius grins at him. "Hey, you said it was Marlene who gave her your number, yeah?" he asks.

James nods, cocking his head to the side when he's done. "Yeah, that's what she said. Why?"

Sirius shakes his head. "Reminded me that I've got to talk to her about our Classics project. And also tell her not to give my number out to any girls," he says, cracking a grin as he heads up the stairs, presumably to grab his phone.

"Pads," James calls. "Phone," he says. Sirius glances at it then tosses it to James, who catches it easily.

As Sirius disappears up to his room and James turns back to his screen, Peter turns to Remus. "How on earth does _Political Science_ make more sense than _Anthro_ as a minor to Engineering?" he asks, bemused.

Remus shakes his head, looking both amused and slightly exasperated by the antics of James and Sirius. "It really doesn't," he mutters.

x

Marlene snaps her fingers.

"He's Dick! D for Diggory, D for Dick." She glances at Lily, almost apologetic but not quite. "I thought it could be A for Amos, A for Asshole, but no—it's _definitely_ Dick."

Dorcas is openly laughing now. Emmeline is smirking as she flicks through the messages Lily's been exchanging with 'Amos'.

"Then who on _Earth_ is Asshole?" Lily demands, suddenly horrified.

Marlene thinks for a second. Then, at the same time as Emmeline, who's been cross-referencing Lily's texts with Asshole/'Amos' to the ones from him on Marlene's phone, exclaims, "James!"

Dorcas is actually rolling on the floor laughing now.

"Why _asshole_?" she manages to ask between gales of laughter.

Marlene scowls. "He ate my Russian fudge," she grumbles. "He gets his name back when he buys me replacement fudge."

Dorcas keeps laughing.

Lily feels slightly faint, but is mostly trying to wrap her head around the entire situation.

"I—" she begins, before squeezing her eyes shut. "I haven't been speaking to Amos at all?" she checks.

"No," Emmeline confirms.

"Instead, I have been speaking to someone named James," she continues.

Marlene glances at Emmeline. "Yep," Marlene says.

"Who seemed to have no quarrel with texting me for several hours," Lily says, thinking about it all.

Dorcas blows a bubble of gum and lets it pop loudly. "Exactly," she says.

"So," Lily says, opening her eyes. "I have one question. Who _is_ this James?"

x

 **JAMES:** sorry about sirius

 **JAMES:** he can be a bit much

James stares at the texts he just sent and bites his lip, thinking, before typing again and pressing send.

 **JAMES:** i can be too tho

 **JAMES:** and i love him to death anyway

 **JAMES:** he's my best friend

 **JAMES:** my brother really

Brother doesn't really cover it, James thinks, but it's the closest word he can think of. Well, there's also _soulmate_ , which is just as accurate, as far as James is concerned, but possibly a bit heavy to drop on a girl you've only been texting for a few hours, no matter how cool she is.

He knows his texts are rambling—individually punchy, because he tends to send multiple short texts instead of one long one, but rambling as a collective—but he doesn't regret what he's actually said; he thinks he really likes this girl, and he reckons she may as well be aware from the outset about what Pads is to him. They're a package deal—two halves of a whole. Their favourite bar-owner—it would be bartender, except Marlene works at Rosmerta's bar part-time and Marlene has been James' friend since he was a lonely kid, so she obviously gets top spot in those stakes—is particularly fond of telling people that you never see one of him and Pads without the other, and James thinks it sums them up pretty well.

His fingers are itching, though, and Lily hasn't texted back yet, which is only making it worse because he _really_ wants to send her something—

Before he knows it, he's sent her another text.

 **JAMES:** we're going to fortescue's for  
some ice cream now

 **JAMES:** would you like to come?

 **JAMES:** bring the others if ya like

 **JAMES:** haven't seen marls and em in ages

 **JAMES:** well last week

 **JAMES:** but sirius is getting a big head w/o  
them to snark at him

 **JAMES:** and maybe we can continue our  
debate about rock'n'roll

 **JAMES:** seeing as pads stole my  
phone last time but he can't  
rly steal our mouths

 **JAMES:** but yeah we're going  
now so feel free to join :)

Make that nine texts, actually. He frowns at his phone. One of these days, he's probably going to need to learn some form of impulse control and then actually _implement_ it.

x

Lily is freaking out slightly.

"I don't even _know_ him," she moans to the room at large. She has moaned tonight much more than usual, and she blames it entirely on James Potter. Well. Partially Marlene for her dumb way of labelling her contacts.

"Yes, but look at it this way," Emmeline says in a reasonable tone. "If you could talk to him for hours and never click it wasn't Diggory until Sirius said something, then you don't really know Diggory either, do you?"

"I wanted to," Lily points out.

"Yeah, but you didn't in the end—you got to know James," Marlene points out, glancing up from her phone screen, which she's pulling a face at. "And did you or did you not enjoy that?"

Lily thinks about it. "I did," she says slowly, "but I also thought he was someone else."

Emmeline raises an eyebrow. "And does your enjoyment of chatting with him depend on the premise that he's Amos?" she asks shrewdly.

Lily thinks about it even more. She doesn't know what this boy looks like, which jars her a lot, but then she realises that whenever she'd seen his emojis, or snorted at his wry remarks... she hadn't imagined Amos' smile. At least not one she'd ever seen on his face, anyway. And whether or not he's Amos, that doesn't change the fact that he's made her laugh many times over the night, as well as engaged her in fierce yet trivial debates—the fact that he isn't Amos, Lily realises, doesn't change the fact that she's enjoyed her evening a lot.

"No," she admits.

Emmeline looks triumphant. Dorcas lets out an amused huff.

"Good thing then," she says, a wry smile pulling at her lips, holding Lily's phone up to them. "Because I think he just asked you out."

Lily is suddenly the picture of flustered outrage.

"What? It was a _wrong number_ , why would he—how dare—"

"Lily," Marlene says, sounding more patient than usual as she puts her phone down beside her on the bed. "You haven't actually, y'know, _told_ him you were trying to text Amos the Dick, so as far as he's aware, you've been intentionally talking to him the whole time."

"Can't really blame him for asking you out," Emmeline says gently. "At least, you can see where he's coming from."

Lily's cheeks are very pink, and she feels very flustered. Everything is a little overwhelming, and she's not quite sure what she wants to do, let alone what she should.

"Oh," Dorcas says suddenly. "He says we can all come—something about Sirius needing Em and Marls to snark at him, and also they're going to Fortescue's and Sirius can't interrupt some sort of debate about rock'n'roll?"

Lily smiles despite herself, because they _had_ been having a really good conversation before Sirius stole James' phone and called her.

"I'm in," Marlene says immediately.

"Snarking Black is our contribution to humanity," Emmeline says by way of agreement.

Lily suddenly feels a bit panicked, because everything is moving a bit fast, but then Dorcas fixes her with her clear gaze.

"Lil," she says softly, which is unusual in itself, because Dorcas is just as blunt as Emmeline is brisk and Marlene is impulsive, so all of this gentle behaviour is a surprising turn of events. Maybe, Lily muses, because Mary isn't there to do it, they're trying to be the more gentle. "We're all going to be there," Dorcas continues, "and you're going to be fine. Might even be fun."

Fixing her eyes on Dorcas', Lily takes a deep breath, and then glances at the other two. She smiles.

"All right," she says. "But give me the phone—I want to let him know."

x

 **LILY:** you're on, potter

 **LILY:** and you're also wrong

 **LILY:** strawberry beats caramel in every  
way. it's scientifically proven

James glances at his phone and barks a laugh, remembering their debate about ice cream flavours from several hours ago—he was fond of caramel sauce, whereas she was more into strawberry, but they could both agree on the merits of salted caramel and mint chocolate chip, as well as that orange chocolate chip was a cardinal sin—and smiles to himself.

He grins at his friend Gwenog on the till, handing her a tenner in return for the caramel-drizzled chocolate, peanut butter cup and mint chocolate chip concoction he'd ordered.

"Thanks, Jones," he says with a wink, before exiting. Running his spare hand through his hair self-consciously—now that he's sure she's coming, he can't help but be hyper-aware of everything—and tugs at the v-neck of his sweater and straightens his collar before tucking his hand into the pocket of his jeans.

He takes about three steps before he stops still, a familiar voice floating over to him. He peers slightly to his left and finds himself about two metres away from Lily, Marlene, Emmeline and Dorcas, who he's met a couple of times. He can hear his friends coming up behind him, particularly Sirius as he loudly lectures the other two on the benefits of dark coffee ice cream.

Lily is staring up at him, and she's blushing, and she looks—James doesn't even have words. Lily's always pretty, but here, with her pink cheeks and red hair framing her face, green eyes sparkling and lips pulled into a bright smile, she looks _enchanting_.

Just like that, James knows he's a goner.

He doesn't even notice he's stepping towards her until he sees her take a step towards him.

"Hi," he says, and his voice sounds slightly strangled and ridiculously hopeful and excited and he _knows_ Marlene and Sirius are probably laughing at him, but Lily isn't, and she's all he's focussing on right now.

"Hi," she breathes back, and her voice is warm and clear, like cinnamon, or songs at Christmas, or swimming in the lake during the summer, and he falls into the sound of it without a second thought.

"Our friends are romantic losers," James can hear Sirius mutter to Marlene and Emmeline, but he can also hear the smile in his voice, and James cracks a grin in response, even as he flushes slightly. Lily looks caught somewhere between mortified and amused, at least until Marlene replies.

"I know, right? Standing like prats in the middle of the path like it's a rom-com and not actually a real path that people need to use," she replies, laughter in her voice. James and Lily glance around in alarm, realising she's right, and sort of just grab at each other and rush to the side, so that they're no longer in anyone's way. Then they look at each other's wide eyes, and burst out laughing.

"Your ice cream's going to drip," Lily says, giggling at the state of his sweet concoction. James has been too busy being caught up in the magic of Lily Evans to notice, but at her warning, glances at it and blanches.

"Shit," he says, licking it quickly to try save it from dripping, accidentally smearing his nose in it as he does so. He glances up at Lily, who stifles a laugh at the sight of him. She reaches up and he stills, hyper-aware of everything as she wipes the chocolate and caramel off the tip of his nose. His breath hitches as she sticks her finger in her mouth automatically, licking off the mess. She blushes slightly, but meets his eyes.

"Caramel's not as bad as I thought," she teases. "Strawberry's still better, though," she says with a wink.

James' heart feels so _full_ he could burst as he grins down at her.

x

Lily's sighing contentedly as she lies down, snuggling herself down into Marlene's duvet.

"Sounds like someone enjoyed herself," Emmeline says with a smirk as she wanders past, heading into her room, where she and Dorcas are sleeping.

"I'll say," Marlene agrees, watching the redhead with amusement. "You look like a cat who's just had a bowl of cream. What happened to _it was a wrong number, how dare he?_ " she asks, imitating Lily with a grin.

Lily pulls a face at her, deciding it's in her best interest not to answer. "You know," Lily grumbles, "this entire situation could have been avoided if you used actual names like a normal person."

Marlene shrugs, unrepentant as always.

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have had your blushing meet-cute by Fortescue's," she replies airily.

Lily blushes again.

"Shut up," she mumbles.

Marlene grins cheekily at her.

"You're going to have beautiful children," she decides cheerfully.

"Oh my god," Lily moans.

* * *

 **a/n 2.** i hope you enjoyed it! i'd really appreciate a review if you've read this far, and please don't favourite without reviewing! thanks so much xo


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